蜜雪天地部落格

Pompeii's Last Day

　　On a hot summer’s day in the bustling mountain town of Pompeii ,holidaymakers and villagers alike were enjoying the pleasures of the city. It was the day of the festival for Vulcan, the Roman god of fire.

　　Some 20,000 men, women, and children were behaving as they would on any other festive day—working, relaxing around their vacation homes, going to the public baths, strolling through the city's

marketplace, or lunching in one of the many restaurants in town.

　　With everything going on, no one took much notice that the springs and wells had dried up because this was common in late August. Small tremors had been shaking the place for four days, but that was in

the norm, too.

　　Suddenly, the mountain came to life. An enormous umbrella-shaped cloud of ash shot out of the volcano and then fell over the mountain and the surrounding villages. When the eruption

ended, everything was covered in several meters of ash. Those who couldn't escape perished.

　　Most of what is known of the eruption of Mt. Vesuvius on August 24, 79 AD comes from the writings of Pliny the Younger. From his uncle's house about 35 km from Mt.

　　Vesuvius, Pliny witnessed the destruction firsthand. In two letters, Pliny described in detail the earthquakes before the eruption, the giant cloud of ash that shot into the air, a tsunami, and the effect on the people living around Vesuvius.

　　The entire event lasted some 19 hours. In the end, the city of Pompeii was buried underneath three meters of ash. Its location was forgotten and it was not until over 1,500 years later that it was

rediscovered.

龐貝城的末日
　　一個炎熱的夏日，在熙攘熱鬧的山中之城﹣龐貝城裡，假日營生者和村民一樣都沉浸在愉悅的氣氛裡，為了Vulcan神的慶典﹣羅馬的火和鍛冶之神。
　　約２萬名善男信女及孩童如同往常節慶日一樣地工作、在家休假放鬆、去公眾浴池、到市集裡閒逛或是到某間餐館用餐。
　　一切如常進行著，沒有人發覺泉水及井水皆已乾涸，只因這在八月末是很常見的。已有四天都發生輕微的震動，但也是在正常範圍內。
　　驟然之間，火山復活了。巨大的傘形灰泥煙塵自火山口噴出，接著落在山上及周圍的村落裡，數公尺厚的灰燼覆蓋了一切。無法逃離的所有生口盡數死亡。
　　大多數為人所知的西元79年8月24日 知名的維蘇威火山爆發的詳情，乃由小蒲林尼所撰寫。
　　小蒲林尼直接見證了這場維蘇威火山浩劫。他在兩封信裡詳細描述了爆發前的地震、噴向空中的巨大的灰燼煙幕、海嘯、以及生活在維蘇威火山周圍的民眾的下場。
　　整個過程持續了19個小時。最終，龐貝城被掩埋在 ３公尺 深的灰燼裡。沒有人知道它的確切位置，直到1,500 年後才被重新發現。

A Full Box of Kisses

The story goes that some time ago, a man punished his three-year-old daughter for wasting a roll of gold wrapping paper. Money was tight and he became infuriated when the child tried to decorate a box to put under the Christmas tree.

Nevertheless, the little girl brought the gift to her father the next morning and said, "This is for you, Daddy." He was embarrassed by his earlier overreaction, but his anger flared again when he found the box was empty. He yelled at her, "Don't you know that when you give someone a present, there's supposed to be something inside the box?"

The little girl looked up at him with tears in her eyes and said, "Oh, Daddy, it is not empty. I blew kisses into the box. All for you, Daddy."

The father was crushed. He put his arms around his little girl, and he begged for her forgiveness. It is said that the man kept that gold box by his bed for years and whenever he was discouraged, he would take out an imaginary kiss and remember the love of the child who had put it there.

In a very real sense, each of us as humans has been given a gold container filled with unconditional love and kisses from our children, friends, family, or God. There is no more precious possession that anyone could hold.

這個故事發生在很久以前，一個父親，有一天責備他三歲大的女兒，因為她浪費一捲金黃色的包裝紙。由於經濟拮据，因此當小孩用它包裝一個想放在樹下的聖誕禮盒時，他就非常憤怒。

  然而第二天早上這個小女孩拿著這禮盒來到父親前面，並且告訴父親說：「爸爸，這是送給你的禮物。」這父親有點兒為昨的過度反應感到自責，可是當他打開盒子一看，裡面是空的，他的怒氣又再上升了，〝難到妳不曉得送人禮物，盒子裡要裝東西嗎？〞

  小女孩的眼裡充滿了眼淚對父親說：〝爸！盒子不是空的，裡裝滿了我給你的〝吻〞，全部都是要給你的〞，

  這父親一下子愣住了，他摟著孩子，向她道歉。從此，他保存著這盒子，放在他的床邊，每當他沮喪時，就取出一個〝吻〞，且想起了女兒對他的愛。

  在我們的真實生活中，我們每個人都擁有一個黃金的盒子，裝滿了孩子、親人、朋友和神對我們無條件的愛，那是我們最真貴的財產。

The flower

Five hundred years ago, a young girl called Devi live in a town in the mountains in India . Her family’s house had a big garden. Sometime Devi and her friends had picnics or played games together there. Sometime she sat and read book under the trees.

There were some beautiful trees in the garden, but one was Devi’s special tree. Devi’s tree was taller than the other trees. It was more beautiful than the other trees. It had long brown branches and big green leaves. Devi watched the birds and she listened to the wind in her tree. But there were never any flowers on the tree. Every year Devi waited for a flower. All the other trees had flowers on them, but there were not any flowers on her tree. She was sad.

Devi lived in the same house for eighty years. She was now an old woman. But every evening she walked through the garden to see her tree. Every evening she looked for a flower. One evening she arrived at the tree and saw one beautiful pink and yellow flower near the top of the tree. No flower in the garden was beautiful than that flower. Devi smiled. She was very happy. She walked back through the garden and went into the house. The door closed. Devi did not walk in the garden again.

五百年前, 有個叫做 Devi (黛薇) 的年輕女孩住在印度山上的一個小鎮裡. 她的家有一座很大的花園. 有時候黛薇跟她的朋友們會在花園裡野餐或者是一起玩耍. 花園裡面有很多漂亮的樹, 但是其中一顆是黛薇的特別樹. 黛薇的樹比其他的樹都還要高大, 而且也比別的樹都還要漂亮. 這棵樹有著修長的褐色樹枝和飽滿的綠葉. 黛薇經常在這棵樹上看著小鳥, 聽著風的聲音. 可是這顆束從來就沒有開過花. 黛薇每年都會等著樹開花. 花園裡其他的樹都有花在樹上, 就只有黛薇的樹上從來沒有花過. 她很傷心. 黛薇在這個家裡住了八十年了. 她現在已經是個老婆婆了. 但是她每天下午還是會走到花園裡去看她的樹. 每天下午她都要看看到底有沒有花在樹上. 有一天下午她走到樹旁, 看到快要到樹梢的地方有著一朵美麗的粉紅和黃色的花. 花園裡面沒有比這朵花更漂亮的花了. 黛薇笑了. 她非常高興了. 她穿過了花園, 走進了房子裡. 房子的門關起來了. 黛薇從此沒有再走進花園裡.